


Choices

by cadkitten



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Car Accidents, Drunk Driving, Near Death, Religion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 01:23:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7737766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cadkitten/pseuds/cadkitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A drunk driver almost kills Dick and Damian's having a hard time not falling apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Choices

**Author's Note:**

> For DynamicDuoWeek2016 over on tumblr. Day 4: If you die, I'm gonna kill you  
> Beta Readers: kate1zena  
> Song[s]: "腐界の闇" by Girugämesh

The sharp staccato of footsteps echoed off the walls as Damian stalked back and forth in front of the door he wasn't allowed to enter. He was worn ragged, hours of stress and worry dragging him down. A deep blackness had begun to set in on his right eye and he was sure that coupled with his split lip probably left him looking like a lunatic, but it had all been worth it in the end. Finding and beating the guy who'd left Dick in the hospital to a bloody pulp. He hadn't said why he was there, hadn't given the man any clue in the world, but when you had the ability and the balls to try to take down motherfucking _Dick Grayson_ , you simply put up with the consequences of being half-killed by his brothers. That was that.

Damian paused next to the vending machines at the far end of his circuit, stuffed his hands into his pockets as he stared - unfocused - into the plexiglass covering the variety of snacks. A hand came to rest on his shoulder and he forced his gaze from in front of him, finding Tim standing behind him, only slightly taller than him now, age having given them both height, but Damian more of it. Their eyes locked in the reflection and Damian swallowed, digging in his pockets to find some change, only halfheartedly shrugging Tim's hand off, not really wanting the touch to stop.

Damian pushed a variety of change into the machine and selected a chocolate cupcake. It plopped down into the tray and he bent to retrieve it, noting that Tim didn't bother to back up in the slightest as he brushed faintly against him when he stood back up. He grasped his change and then turned on his heel, stalking back off down the hallway, Tim's near-silent footsteps behind him. There was intention to the weight of them and Damian knew that, knew how much effort it took Tim to make himself _known_ these days. 

Plunking down onto the plastic chair in front of Dick's room, Damian drew one leg up, wrapped his arm around it, package of sweets dangling from his fingertips as he stared intently at the door handle, waiting on it to move. When he was sure they were alone, Tim crouched beside his chair, Damian breathed quietly, "The guy paid for what he did..." Admitting something like this was new, something entirely different, but he'd started to place a certain amount of trust in Tim that he hadn't bothered to really question. It was what it was.

Tim made a little sound in the back of his throat. "Break something for me?"

"For each of us." Damian's fingers flexed against his thigh, recalling the way the man's fingers had snapped beneath his palm. A slight shudder ran through him, something he'd been unable to rid himself of, even after all these years of holding back. There was a darkness in him and he understood that with a clarity that would have shocked anyone else. He _enjoyed_ breaking that man. _Loved_ hearing his screams as he'd repaid him for every bruise and broken bone Dick had sustained. Sure, it had _technically_ been the man's vehicle that had nearly taken Dick's life, but when you chose to get behind the wheel under the influence, you chose your fate. In this case, _fate_ was Damian's nickname. 

Damian could sense Tim looking around them, knew he was searching for cameras, and then, "Is he alive?"

Snorting quietly, Damian let out a whoosh of breath. "Barely. Let us say he is three floors below us right now." Damian had called it in himself, hadn't left the man to bleed out and die, hadn't done what the asshole had done to Dick. He'd stood over him and made the call, made _certain_ the guy knew he'd called him an ambulance.

"Did Robin take him down or-"

"I wouldn't sully his name like that." Damian spit the words out, half disgusted. "A very angry man in all black beat the snot out of him."

Tim's head hit the wall and Damian inherently knew the look on his face without so much as having to look, knew there would be relief, knew that meant Batman might never find out which of them it had been. As if to prove his theory, "We all cover for each other then."

The sound of material against the wall sounded on Damian's right and he stole a sideways glance as Jason slid down to sit on the floor beside him. "Beat me to it... tracked him down to the ER."

Damian let out the most undignified of snorts, letting his head hit the wall behind him as he closed his eyes. "Let him heal and do it again."

"Sounds like a plan." Jason's voice was bitter, filled with a hatred that Damian knew intimately. No one was allowed to touch Dick like that, to nearly steal him from their lives and _live_ with it. 

The door clicked open and Damian was up in a second, standing rigidly as the nurse cast a glance at the three of them. "One at a time, he's barely coming out from under anesthesia." The doctor bustled out behind her, stopping in front of Damian and then glancing at the other two. "Would you like to speak privately?" 

Damian shook his head just the slightest. "We're all family." 

"He should be okay. Possibly a bit slow coming out from under completely given how long we had him under. We won't know much about the extent of any potential brain damage until he's fully conscious, but we're hopeful it will be nominal to none."

Damian's hand clenched and he could feel the way his body threatened to start shaking and he understood with a stark clarity that _this_ was panic. His eyes started to well with tears and then Tim's hand was forcing his fingers to relax, sliding his own hand into Damian's grasp, stroking his thumb over the web between his thumb and forefinger.

"Would two at a time be acceptable if only one of us speaks to him?" The unspoken words of necessary support hung on the air beneath Tim's words and the doctor glanced between them and then nodded. "Don't crowd him. If you have any questions, I can be paged."

Damian nodded, feeling like ice was sliding through his veins as Tim tugged him past the doctor and into the room. The door clicked shut behind them and Tim led them to Dick's side, taking the plastic chair and settling down, lightly tugging Damian down onto his knee, one hand gently plucking the sweets from him and settling them on the small tray table beside Dick's bed. 

Damian sat, his hands still trembling as he reached out to lightly trace over Dick's forearm and then down to his fingers. When he got a twitch in response, his breath hitched and he nearly lost what fragile control he had left over his emotions. Tim's arm snaked around his waist, holding on tight enough to anchor him and Damian laced his fingers with Dick's, intently watching his face as Dick cracked open his eyes and blearily tried to focus on Damian.

For the longest time, they simply stared at one another until a single tear finally escaped, trailing down Damian's cheek, plopping down to dampen the knee of his jeans. "If you die on me..." he couldn't even finish the sentence, gasping in a breath in an attempt not to sob. Tim held him tighter and Damian had never been so grateful for the silent presence of another.

Wetting his lips, Dick finally attempted to speak, his voice cracking and his throat sounding dry. "What? You'll kill me?" A half-there smile ghosted over Dick's lips and Damian lost his battle with his emotions letting out a horrible sob before tearing away from Tim's grasp, falling to his knees beside the bed and clutching at Dick's hand, pressing it to his cheek and bowing his head as he shuddered with the tears that wouldn't stop. 

Dick was _his_ Batman, his mentor, his brother, and the only person he'd shared most of his secrets with. True, some of them were still harbored deep in his mind, never to see themselves freed upon a breath of air, but the ones that had? All of them belonged to the pair of them. 

"I _cannot_ lose you."

Dick's hand tugged away from his cheek, ghosted through his hair and then one slim finger came to lightly tap the tip of his nose. "I'm not-" his voice cracked again and he coughed weakly, "gonna die, okay kiddo?"

Normally Damian would have argued at being called kiddo. He was seventeen and that was hardly still a _child_. But right then, nothing mattered except that Dick was talking to him, that he was promising he wasn't going to leave him. Resting his head on the edge of the bed, he just focused on breathing as he heard Tim's quiet voice gently questioning Dick. If he remembered what had happened, how he felt, lightly probing around events from their past to ensure he still had a grasp on them. All of it was music to Damian's ears, hearing Dick's flawless responses to each thing, knowing his mind was still intact just as much as his body.

Damian's free hand slid into his pocket, found the prayer beads there and he began to voicelessly recite the words, feeling the ease in his gut at the repetitive action of it. No one would have suspected him to be the religious type, to be so reliant on such a supplication, but what others thought didn't matter. He pulled the beads from his pocket at the last word, pressed his lips to the last bead and pushed it back into his pocket as he sat back on his heels, realized how hard he was gripping Dick's hand and lightened it. 

Their eyes locked and Damian watched the light flicker behind them as a tired smile tugged at Dick's lips. "You kick his ass, lil' D?"

"Three floors down," he returned, watching the amusement sparkle across Dick's face. "Jason has dibs once he heals."

Dick's gaze flicked to Tim and Damian heard the light snort from behind him. "Oh, I have other ways to ruin him. Bruce and I? We use the _law_."

"Drag him." Dick rolled his head back into the plushness of the pillow and closed his eyes. 

Damian squeezed his hand as he stood up. "Jason is here and then you can sleep."

Dick nodded and Damian let go, heading to the door, making sure he moped up his face before opening the door, glancing toward Jason and breathing out, "He's awake," before making his way down the hallway toward the men's room. 

His chest felt freer, his breathing easier now that he knew Dick had made it through surgery, knew that his mind was intact. Even if the light of life left him, he wasn't so far gone that he couldn't be brought back, wasn't so damaged that the pit would turn him into someone else if they used it. The knowledge that they'd deal no matter what now left him buzzing. 

Leaning over the sink in the bathroom, he stared down at the bruises blooming on his forearm from blocking the guy's frantic hits and he understood one, beautiful thing. _Dick was alive._


End file.
